(Credits: Far Out / Marcel Antonisse / Anefo)
Wed 28 January 2026 15:00, UK
Despite how troubled and fragile the relationships between members of The Rolling Stones have been over the years, it’s remarkable that the duo of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have remained ever-present since the beginning.
Having one ego in a band is usually enough for the rest of the group to have to contend with, but having two would normally mean chaos, and the constant butting of heads between the two individuals struggling for power would undoubtedly take its toll on the relationships between them and the other members in the process.
In all fairness, it has always been chaotic to be a member of The Rolling Stones alongside Jagger and Richards, but somehow the duo made it work and produced some of their finest work, even when they were dragging each other down with their constant personal troubles. Both have had their own personal battles with substance abuse, Richards in particular, and this would regularly create tensions in the group due to how it prevented them from always being present and able to contribute.
Of course, having others present to talk them down from their respective moments of madness made it slightly more bearable, and they weren’t exactly obliged to spend every waking moment of their lives together, nor were they being forced against their will to work alongside one another. Everything they chose to do was on their own terms, and the fact that they’ve been able to navigate the rough patches is no mean feat.
A large amount of the band’s discography is still credited to the songwriting duo of Jagger and Richards, despite not all of the band’s songs not having come from the combined efforts of these two members, and during the height of their personal tensions and between Richards’ struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, there were times where the two ceased to work with one another.
One key example of this is ‘Moonlight Mile’, the closing track on the band’s 1971 album Sticky Fingers, and a song credited to both despite actually having been written by Jagger with assistance from Mick Taylor. Richards was absent from the recording session of this track, as he so frequently was during this period of their career, but this wasn’t going to prevent the other members of the band from powering through without him.
Richards always expressed a deep sense of regret that he wasn’t involved in the writing or recording of the song, and during a 2015 interview with USA Today, he stated that he’d been thinking of ways that he could reintroduce the song into the band’s repertoire with him providing a new part.
Given that the band were in the process of putting together a potential setlist for their Zip Code Tour, which was to feature a career-spanning selection of songs, Richards proclaimed that he was interested in the possibility of including ‘Moonlight Mile’.
“I always wished I was on it,” he declared. “I’ve found myself a little niche in it for the stage.”
It may not be one of the band’s most beloved songs, and certainly sounds distinct from all of the material that Jagger and Richards made together, but it certainly shows just how fortunate they were to be able to carry on without one another and still find ways to make the dynamic work several years on.
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